Former Bishop Hendricken stars Tom Pannone and Jeff Roy both heard their names called in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft last week. Pannone was selected in the ninth round by the Cleveland Indians while Roy went in the 18th round to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Pannone has now been drafted in consecutive years. As a senior at Hendricken last year, he was selected by the Cubs in the 33rd round. He didn’t sign and instead played junior college baseball at the College of Southern Nevada this spring. Junior college players are eligible for the draft after their freshman and sophomore years, so Pannone’s name was on draft boards again. The Indians took him with the 261st overall pick, and listed him as a left-handed pitcher. The 6’1, 195-pounder starred as both a pitcher and an outfielder for the Hawks. This spring, Pannone played both ways for CSN. He hit .274 with two home runs, but did his best work on the mound. He went 6-2 with a 1.84 ERA and a team-best 78 strikeouts in 53.2 innings pitched.

Roy, a junior at the University of Rhode Island and the 2011 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, was selected by the Pirates with the 539th pick. The 5’9, 175-pound outfielder hit .285 this season with a .392 on-base percentage. He was 30-for-30 in stolen bases.

Roy is the second Hendricken product to be drafted by the Pirates in three years. They took former Hawk Dan Gamache out of Auburn in 2011.

Pannone and Roy were two of three Rhode Island natives selected in the draft. The other is Lincoln High School senior Nick Zammarelli, who was selected by the Red Sox with the 833rd pick. Three players were also drafted out of Bryant University – Kevin Brown, Joseph Michaud and Pete Kelich.